Membership of the Royal Geographic Society. I’ve been a travel writer for twenty years and it was amazing to become part of something that’s been integral to exploration and adventuring for almost two hundred years. Being able to go to events and talks, and belonging to the organisation that helped support trips for people like Charles Darwin, Ernest Shackleton and Edmund Hillary was amazing.

Heated rollers! I’d said in passing a few weeks before Christmas that I was thinking about getting some, as my hairdresser had recommended a particular brand. I didn’t expect to find them under the Christmas tree! ‘Functional’ isn’t really a word I associate with presents; ‘frivolous’ is more what I’m after.

A round the world air ticket with unlimited stops – rather like one of those hop-on hop-off tourist buses you get in cities. I did a round-the-world trip three years ago, and it felt amazing to just keep on travelling – getting further and further away from the UK until finally you’re home, never having re-traced your steps. I’d love to do it again, but with the ability to just hop on whatever flight I fancied, and see smaller places rather than the big city hubs.

I bought tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York for my sister’s 50th birthday. I was going for work and she was coming with me, so I thought it would be the perfect surprise. She’s a huge opera fan and we both love New York, so just walking into the iconic building felt amazing. We watched Madam Butterfly and drank champagne and felt ridiculously glamorous. It was her birthday present, but it kind of felt like one for me too!

Someone once gave me a horse ride as a present. I thought it was a delightful gift although when I arrived to avail of the gift, my assigned horse had died. It was dead. So they gave me cash back. I wish this was a joke.

[Just wanted to briefly interrupt Anuvab here to say Xperience Days offers a Fine Wine Horseback Trail - it will be a relaxing and picturesque ride, and notably, the horses will be alive!]

A tree. A small tree.

A mini espresso machine. You can make a tiny cup of espresso wherever you are.

I once gave a museum ticket entrance to a friend because something came up and I couldn't go. I was supposed to meet a college friend. He went. My college friend and him started dating and now they've been married 15 years.

When I graduated from high school, I was given a Le Creuset Dutch oven. I already loved cooking but certainly hadn’t considered it as a career. I was going to be a pediatrician! That piece of cookware has travelled with me to every apartment I’ve lived in and I use it all the time to this day. It’s functional and gorgeous (how often can you say that about something!) and will last a lifetime!

Probably some sort of clothing or jewelry that when I opened it, my thought was, “someone looked at this and thought of me???” And the added pressure that I might have to actually wear said item to be polite. Also I find it funny and kind of odd when people give me—a chef—kitchen tools that maybe a home cook might possibly use but no way would a professional cook use. I advise against giving a present to someone in their field of expertise unless they asked for it specifically.

Since I love to travel and don’t have time to, I’d love to be given a culinary travel trip to some place I haven’t been, like southeast Asia or India - or really anywhere! In terms of something related to cooking, since I have all the tools I need in the kitchen, I would like to go to dinner one of the fancy restaurants that are out of my price range like Eleven Madison Park and the like.

At this stage in my life, I’m really interested in experiences since I don’t really feel like I need things. It could be something as simple as a date for a nice dinner with an old friend or something more exotic like ziplining, parasailing, or hang gliding (I’ve always wanted to try that!).

For those buying for a keen cook, I like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table for cookware stores that are big national chains. Of course I like to support local cookware shops, too. For knives, I always recommend Wusthof. I think everyone should own a decent 8" chef's knife, a couple of good pans (never non-stick) a Microplane, a whisk or two, a set of bowls (lots of small ones for prep) and a few big mixing bowls.

My mom and I have a tradition that leading up to Christmas and her birthday where she starts making lists of things she wants help with. I keep track and make little cards each with an I.O.U. I then start working off the I.O.U.s. It may sound silly, but she doesn’t need or want things and she really loves getting all the tasks done. It’s very satisfying. As a general response, I love to listen and hear what a friend says they want but they can’t or won’t get for themselves and being able to surprise them with that. It shows that you listen and there’s no better present than something you wouldn’t normally get yourself.

After undergraduate, I was freelancing, doing graphic design and some interaction design and even coding (!) while looking for a more steady position. To do so I was [pauses to check the statute of limitations] still using my discounted student copy of what we now call the Adobe Creative Suite. So, technically, all the files I was handing to paying clients were…uh…not kosher. I’m “lawful good” if that means anything to you, and so this was weighing on my conscience quite heavily. To my utter delight, my partner at the time got me a real, live, big-boy-pants legit copy of the software. When I opened it, and saw the shiny CDs inside (c’mon, people, this was a long time ago) all that weight lifted off my conscience, like so many clods of albatross. It felt like I’d just been given the tools to be a real live professional. Not romantic, in the traditional sense, but because it helped my state of mind so much, and was so incredibly thoughtful in that regard, really romantic, you know?

My runner up, though, comes from this past year. My 5-year old son colluded with my husband to get me a series of gifts that they would sneak into my luggage every time I had to travel somewhere. Each gift was a very adorably thought-out thing that would remind me of home. The first one was a small book and colored pencil set so I could make a cartoon book for him of my journey. When I got back we went through the cartoons page by page for his bedtime story.

Oh this is tough. The risk of hurting someone’s feelings for giving a gift! But, my family has an anecdote that gets shared from time to time. One year when I was in high school my mother decided to get me and my younger brother new bedsheets. Practical, but needed. We came home from school to find the new bedsheets on our beds. I stared at the beige thing with sedate, orderly, not-quite-plaid lines across it. It felt like I was being condemned to be an accountant. Then I leaned over to look in my brother’s room and was really envious of his crazy colored paint spatter pattern. Turns out he was envious of mine as well. But we didn’t want to hurt mom’s feelings, so we just switched ours a few days later. When she saw it, she was a little sad at first, but then happy that we’d been able to work it out between ourselves.

Wait. I take it back. This one’s tougher. Because at this point in my career, there’s not a ton of stuff I need, it’s all very immaterial.

• Reviews! If friends or family could read my books and put reviews up online. Those things help more than non-authors could imagine.

• Time! Who wouldn’t love to open up a box filled with loads of time to focus and concentrate and get work done? I suppose that could be a book of delightful coupons offering regular isolation, or to manage affairs while I get a week at some AirBnB up the road, and the promise of a visit for dinners and to discuss how things are going.

Admittedly, those are hard to come by. So if it was a material-ish gift…

• Fonts! They can be expensive, but how much fun would it be to peruse, say, typography.com and just pick one to have all your own.

• I’m also a sucker for novel photography, so a thermal camera accessory for my phone, or one of the cool 360 ones would be nice as well.

• I draw on my iPad Pro quite a bit, but the glass has a very unsatisfyingly slippery feel that takes a lot of getting used to. I have been eyeballing the paperlike decals for them for the promised return of pencil like resistance.

• And lastly, since spending my grad school in Italy, I of course picked up an espresso habit, so a gift card to a favorite local haunt like Peets would be wonderful for keeping me awake and buzzing. :)

I walked to and from high school, passing every day a small gift shop in a strip mall. When Christmas came around one year, I had just a handful of dollars to try and purchase gifts. So I went in to this gift shop and quietly asked to see their least costly gifts. There on the shelf was a tiny Yoda statue. I was a sci-fi nerd. My mother wasn’t. But it was squarely in the budget. So I bought it, and painted it, and then threw my future self under the bus with an inscription, carefully hand lettered on the bottom that went something like this, “Dear Mother, I have little money but lots of time, so I hope you enjoy this weird little sculpture and all the work that went into it while thinking of you, especially in light of when I’ll be older and have more money and less time.” My mother adores it, and still has a special place for it on a shelf in her home. But I’ve made myself feel extra guilty every time since then when I was actually very busy and copped out with a potted plant or simple flowers. Screw you, precocious younger me. And sorry, mum. :)

My current go to Christmas present I ask for from my husband Scott is a full body massage at a local spa. It’s the only hour I get totally alone and it’s lovely. Another great Christmas present I received was a case of my favorite wine from my dad. Years ago, the best birthday present I got from Scott was a baking class, because I love to bake. I guess for me, favorite gifts involve a relaxing or fun activity as opposed to something material. Wine counts as relaxing!

Worst is tricky because I don’t really get that many presents. So if I think back to when I did… It would have to be a purse that was completely not my sense of style. Much more conservative than I like. Personal items are tricky gifts unless the person knows exactly what you want. But it was a nice thought so it’s hard to say that it was the worst.

Something that is an experience or a relaxing time. As a busy parent, I rarely get time to myself. So great gifts are the ones that give me that time, or are something I would never do/buy for myself — a massage, a fun class, a nice dinner out.

I think recently that would probably be a record player and records that I bought for Scott. He loves music and listening to it relaxes him so finding him stuff he loves on vinyl is always a win.

A trivet in the shape of a vinyl record! Given to me by a dear friend who lives in Italy - I literally use it every day. I've had it more than 5 years now and it’s still going strong.

An iPod when they first came out, a very generous gift except I'm a huge fan of radio and not knowing what the next song is going to be, so I was horrified at the thought of spending time uploading music I already own and regularly listen to - never fear, it went to good use as my friends daughter was desperate for one so she was very happy.

As well as a music company I have a property business and my dream present would be an Oceanfront building plot in the Bahamas!

Things where I've given my friends my time to help with a project of their choice.

My fascination and love for animals and plants has been with me since I was a child; I thank my parents for that. Since my childhood, I've always had a pet. Either a rescue animal or a pet from a shop - birds, dogs, cats and even rodents, but not all at the same time. I've built enclosures/paddocks for almost all of my pets from aviaries to cat scratch poles. These projects make me more aware of animals’ needs - about space and environment - plus, it's easier on the wallet.

The longest I've gone with a pet was the last five years and I was missing that interaction dearly. I mean, I couldn't take one of the zoo primates home, I didn't have the resources to look after them and plus, more importantly, it is illegal! A few weeks before my birthday this year, one of my best friends commissioned me to build her a house for some pet rescue rats she wanted to adopt. Fancy rats, as they are called, are not everyone's pet. Many people recoil at the sight of their tails. I love fancy rats, they are highly intelligent, can be potty trained and are highly affectionate. I built a five-foot tall, four storey house for her rats with items I bought from IKEA. I built-in ventilation so the air in their home would never be stale and added lighting that was programmable and dimmable. It was my finest work. She brought the rats to my place where their house was ready for transport. We introduced the rats (Phoebe and Rachel) to their new home and they immediately got busy exploring it. The joy on my face was evident and I confided in my friend that the project has inspired me to get some of my own furry friends. She said: "Good, because they were meant to be your birthday gift all along."

I must have stared at her, slack-jawed, for a while as she waved her hand in front of my eyes to get me to say something. I've had Phoebe and Rachel for over a month now, I take them both out of their home every day and they love falling asleep on my stomach when I'm watching a movie. As fancy rats normally live two to three years, I think I have a lovely couple of years to look forward to. Definitely the best present in a while.

The person who gave me this gift immediately regretted giving it to me after I opened it. My friends and I were having Christmas dinner and exchanging gifts. The kids went first, and then the adults. My gift from one of my friends was a PSY toy (the artist who is known for Gangnam Style, I Luv It, Gentleman). This toy was about 1 foot tall and was motion/voice activated. Every time someone said Gangnam Style, it would pull open it's long coat and it's exaggerated penis would bounce up and down while he sang 'Oppa Gangnam style'.

Cost of toy: $20

Cost of wrapping paper: $5

The look on the faces of every child and adult at our table and surrounding tables: priceless

I kept the toy for a few days but my then parrot learned to say ‘Gangnam Style’ and the toy would start it's routine again. It has since been recycled (the toy, not the parrot).

Books on plants or animals. Thoroughly researched books, or ones that talk about a specific issue/topic.

For example:

• The Plant Messiah by Carlos Magdelena - An amazing book on how one horticulturist has saved many near-extinct plant species from actual planetary extinction. It was an eye opener, jaw dropper and a great book that made me visit Kew Gardens many times to see plants that are already extinct in the wild, or ones that came back from the brink of extinction thanks to a handful of individuals.

• The Unexpected Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke - If you like quizzes or just random animal facts, this book is amazing for that. There are things I learned about some of the animals in my care that I hadn’t found in any other books!

• Handbook of Primate Husbandry and Welfare by Sarah Wolfensohn and Paul Honess - nuff said.

My parents live in the Middle East and I live in London. I only get to see them for a week every year. A few years ago, I hadn’t been able to meet them for two years, so I managed my time, saved some money and gave them a surprise visit. I called my parents on their phone once I was outside their home, and while talking over the phone, I rang their doorbell. My mum went to answer the door and couldn't believe it was me at the door. We cried and hugged for a while. It's a simple gift, hard to execute but heart warming for my parents and I.

Woodworking classes. My dad made a nativity scene before I was born, but it was made out of particle board and painted brown, so you’d get splinters, and it had started falling apart. Ever since I was a kid, I said I was going to make a nice version. About 5 years ago I asked for a woodworking class, and my brother got me one for Christmas, and I’ve been doing it ever since. My third project was the nativity scene.

A t-shirt. I don’t remember what it said, but it was given to me by someone who knows that I have a drawer with 40 white t-shirts in it, and if they’re going to give me something other than a white tee, their t-shirt game better be strong.

Honestly, I don’t need anything. The best gifts for me are things that open up avenues of my life that or didn’t know existed or haven’t explored. Woodworking tools are always nice, but they’re expensive and I don’t have the space for them. A trip, a class, some sort of adventure. I was given a 2-week pass to a meditation center last year for my birthday. Things like that. Sign me up for things I don’t have the impetus to sign myself up for but know I’d enjoy.

For Christmas one year I decided, instead of getting my family “things”, I wanted them to be surrounded by visuals that were inspiring to them. So I went around NY and found paintings or sculptures that represented the things they desired most in their lives. The one that resonates the most is a statue of a couple I gave my sister, because the next year she met her husband, and she always says that the statue was in the back of her mind when it was happening. Could be coincidence, sure, but I like to think being around those visuals helped solidify things for her!

When I was seventeen, I had placed sixth in the country for the National French Exam. As a reward, my parents gave me a trip to Paris for Spring Break. An acquaintance of my father's was an English teacher in a high school outside of Paris, so I went to stay with her for ten days. She showed me the ropes of how to use the RER and Metro to get around and I was off! Every day while she taught class, I'd zip around Paris alone. It was marvelous! Using my school girl French, I navigated orders in bakeries, directions around town, and purchases in the shops. It seemed to please people that an American was actually trying very hard to speak the language and I was treated so well. I found the city so welcoming and charming. I was content to play the part of tourist - I had my portrait taken in chalk in Monmartre, perused the bouquinistes, tried to look sophisticated sitting outside at the cafes with my café au lait. I bought little lengths of thick, heavy velvet ribbon for gifts and endless postcards, documenting every franc in my little cahier. I got lost on the way to Versailles when the train broke down which showed me I could rely on myself in an emergency to take care of myself (in that ancient time before cell phones!). I sketched what the fashionable women were wearing, my favorite statues and paintings at the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay. I was lucky enough to get the last open seat in Notre Dame on Easter morning and even went to the Ballet Russes at the Opera. I visited the home of Victor Hugo, explored St. Germaine, and had tea with a Duchess! I ate my weight in raclette, crepes, and pain au chocolat. It was magical and transformative - definitely my coming of age in retrospect. I even had a little romance! Every woman should be courted by a Frenchman once in her life should she wish it! It was hard to return to school life. My heart was still longing for one more stroll across the Pont Alexandre III and the sound of an accordion floating down the Seine.

I have such particular tastes, it hasn't been infrequent in my life to receive a gift that doesn't fit my aesthetic. As long as there is a gift receipt, I'm happy! I actually love to shop online so a credit or gift card is a delight! I suppose the worst gift must be an antique edition of one of my favorite books given to me by a man with whom I'd recently ended a short but intense relationship. He left it on my doorstep with a note. I was so enchanted by the book but had no desire to be in touch with him, even to return it. It felt like a manipulation and it was tainted. It has been twenty years, so the book has lost the painful association sitting amongst my other books. Honestly, I'd forgotten until I went searching for the memory. It was quite an unpleasant item at the time.

I would love a long trip to England. I haven't been in twenty years and I'd just love to poke around country houses and museums at my leisure.

Practically, though, if a material item could just appear on my doorstep, I'd wish for a Microsoft Surface. So much of my job is digital art - spending hours a day with a stylus, chained to my desk and drawing tablet. Having the freedom to do the same with untethered, drawing directly on the image I'm editing would be heaven! I tested one out a while ago and it was seamless. Lag is a killer in my line of work and it worked like a dream.

Recently, my daughter turned seven. She adores dragons and wolves and is a quite the warrior princess with her wild red hair. A friend of mine, Janet Lee, is a fabulous artist who has drawn for some award-winning comics and Marvel. She had recently done a series of illustrations of warrior princesses -sword fighting, reading, etc. I commissioned her to do one of Emily Haddyr holding a sword with a pet dragon and wolf all in the colors of her dragon-themed bedroom my daughter and I designed together. It turned out fabulously! I used it for her party invitations, decor, outfits, and gifts for her birthday party at the fencing club. It was so exciting to her and was definitely a one-of-a-kind gift. I made her a backpack from the illustration so she can have it with her when school starts up! Other people enjoyed seeing how well Janet caught her spirit and I know Emily Haddyr will treasure it for years to come!

Ok, I could be really cheesy here and say life. After everything I've been through it really should be my answer - alongside the new eyes I now look on life with. But for something material, I would have to say the Robert Thompson (Mouseman) bowl my work colleague Tom gave me as a wedding gift. It's beautiful hand carved oak with a central mouse and is a period example from the early days of the workshop. (Similar pieces are still made today but the style of the mouse has changed). It was such a thoughtful gift as Tom knew I loved such pieces, and when one came in for auction from a dealer friend he managed to buy it for me from the dealer without it going through the auction process. As such the dealer probably lost out a little on the price, but that just makes it more special as they obviously wanted to be in on the gift aspect of the piece too. It would be around $400 to $600 at auction.

I'm not sure where to start here. I get given lots of bad presents. My husband Matt says I'm really picky. I don't think that's the case, I just feel that life today is so busy most people realize a friend's birthday is coming round and just go for the standard chocolates/flowers/toiletries that most shops thrust down our throats as what everyone wants. I can't use most toiletries as I have such sensitive skin and I only really like certain chocolate (ok, yes, the more expensive sort). My mother-in-law also buys me black opaque nylons EVERY birthday and Christmas - always in the wrong size - just because I do tend to live in them during the colder months. Having a birthday in January I tend to get given a lot of things that you can just tell were in the post Christmas sales, those sort of 'gift box' toiletries with the 'free' candle or miniature bottle of wine.

What I would most like to be given is tricky as working in the antiques world means I see and handle so many beautiful objects, most being out of my price range. I do collect late 18th/early 19th century Staffordshire ceramics and 18th century English delft though. Both of these markets are in a bit of a dip at the moment so the prices are a lot cheaper than they were 15 or 20 years ago. I love such objects as when you handle them you wonder who else has held them and how they have survived the last 200 plus years in such wonderful condition.

The best received present I've ever given I don't think was actually a present but a card I wrote to my cousin. It was a birthday card in the form of a school report card. I had to score him on general personality traits and on the back in the 'Notes' section I was able to write a small paragraph about how lovely he had been over the past five years helping me and Matt through all the trauma in our lives. I wrote quite a heartfelt and honest few lines about how important he had been in helping us get through everything and how all the bad things had resulted in the good outcome of getting to know him and his family better. When he received the card in the post he rang me to say how brilliant it was and that he was going to take it to work to show everyone. I think it shows that you don't need to spend a fortune to tell someone how much you care.

Best present was a day’s car racing around the track at Donington in the V8s.

Socks... Christmas socks that were too tight and stopped the blood flow to my feet!

A flight in a fixed wing glider being flown by Manfred Ruhmer.

A Hang-gliding holiday in Spain... flying with the vultures and eagles circling high above the mountain tops where no man has been, looking in their eyes and shouting Yee haa!!